The justices declined to review an October decision by the California Supreme Court that cleared the way for a lawsuit that attorneys claimed could represent "millions" of California customers.

In response to similar lawsuits, Verizon and Sprint, both CDMA carriers, have agreed to provide the software code to unlock cellphones after customers nationwide have completed their original contract, attorneys said. "That was the compromise we ended up with to get the cases settled," said California attorney Robert Bramson, one of the lawyers suing carriers T-Mobile and AT&T.

T-Mobile and AT&T fought the lawsuit all the way to the nation's high court. The two carriers, on the GSM network, are accused of unfair business practices by locking down their phones to their service plans. Last year, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington listed cell phone unlocking as one of six new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA.

That change, however, left unclear whether carriers were responsible for unlocking the handsets.

The high court's decision sets aside language in the terms-of-service agreement requiring aggrieved AT&T and T-Mobile customers to submit to binding arbitration instead of going to court. The phone carriers urged the justices to require that their customers honor the contracts they had signed. The lower courts had declared those contracts "unconscionable."

The case the U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday, if successful, could force AT&T to unlock the coveted iPhone. AT&T is Apple's exclusive phone provider. "They may be more unwilling than otherwise because the iPhone is such a big seller," Bramson said.

The suits also prompted all four of the phone providers to reduce the fees charged to costumers who terminate a mobile phone contract before it expires.

Still, all four carriers face litigation to reduce those new, pro-rated fees even further. AT&T's plan, implemented Monday, is similar to the other carriers' opt-out schedule. Each month, an account holder's normal $175 charge to back out of the two-year contract is reduced by $5.

"Pro-rated is a step in the right direction," said California attorney David Franklin, one of the lawyers suing the carriers.

source :

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Under the plan, which includes promotions for more than 10 executives and the departure of others, the Redmond, Wash., software maker will name Andrew Lees, currently a corporate vice president at the company's server and tools group, to lead its mobile-communications business, which makes software for mobile phones, one person familiar with the situation said. He will become a senior vice president.

The existing head of the mobile-communications unit, Pieter Knook, will retire from Microsoft, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Knook, a senior vice president, joined Microsoft in 1990 and has served in a variety of roles, including president of Microsoft's Asia operations.

The changes come as Microsoft is making a push into the consumer mobile-phone market. The company has mainly focused on providing software for phones that businesspeople use. Its chief rival in that market is Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry device.

That realm has proven to be a niche in comparison with the sales volume of the consumer-phone market. Some of the most innovative phone designs -- such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone -- and new wireless services are being aimed at consumers. Microsoft this week announced a consumer phone with Sony Ericsson, a venture of Sony Corp. of Japan and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, and also said it acquired Danger Inc., maker of the technology behind T-Mobile's popular Sidekick hand-held gadget.

Mr. Lees is a newcomer to the field. The British-born executive joined Microsoft in 1990 and has spent most of his career in marketing positions in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. His most recent job has been running marketing for the server and tools group, software used by businesses.

The change in the mobile group will coincide with promotions across most of Microsoft's business groups. At least three vice presidents, including Mr. Knook, are expected to either leave Microsoft immediately or later in the year.

The changes, according to the people familiar with the situation, include expanded duties for two corporate vice presidents, Bill Veghte and Satya Nadella. A corporate vice president in charge of Windows marketing, Michael Sievert, is expected to leave the company. Steve Berkowitz, a senior vice president who has managed a chunk of the online business, is expected to remain at Microsoft into the summer.

news source : http://online.wsj.com/

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Profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose to 1.22 billion euros ($1.8 billion) from 1.15 billion euros a year earlier, The Hague-based KPN said in a statement today. Net income more than tripled on a 1.1 billion-euro income-tax gain. Total sales climbed 20 percent to 3.66 billion euros.

KPN, led by Chief Executive Officer Ad Scheepbouwer, reported its first sales increase in more than a year as acquisitions and new services such as television and Internet calling made up for the loss of fixed-line customers. The company paid 766 million euros for Getronics last year. Operating profit and sales at the Dutch business will return to growth by the end of 2010, the company said.

``It's good that after a few years of flat guidance they finally are trying to show some growth again,'' said Philippe Kiewiet de Jonge, who oversees a telecommunications fund at ABN Amro Asset Management, which manages $323 billion. ``This shows the Dutch business is under control and Germany is still growing. There's more music in KPN than a couple of years ago.''

Net income jumped to 1.58 billion euros from 427 million euros a year earlier. Profit before tax totaled 480 million euros. Analysts predicted KPN would report net income of 391 million euros on sales of 3.6 billion euros, the median of 13 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey by phone and e-mail.

Shares Rise

KPN fell 1 cent, or 0.1 percent, to 12.35 euros in Amsterdam. The stock has fallen 0.7 percent this year, while the 21-member Bloomberg Europe Telecommunication Services Index is down 9.1 percent.

``This strong strategic update confirms our positive stance on KPN,'' Amsterdam-based analysts Frank Claassen and Philip Scholte at Rabo Securities wrote in a note today. The 2010 growth forecast is ``more exciting'' than the results, they said.

KPN said it would cut a further 2,000 jobs through 2010, in addition to the target of 8,000 announced in 2005.

The company will pay a dividend of 54 cents a share, up 8 percent from last year and matching analysts' estimates. KPN said it's increasing the amount of annual free cash flow it will pay in dividends to 40 percent to 50 percent, from 35 percent to 50 percent. Dividends should reach 80 cents a share in 2010, the company said.

`Strong Commitment'

``The market is focusing on the outlook,'' said Joris Franssen, who helps oversee $1 billion at Kempen Capital Management in Amsterdam and doesn't hold KPN. ``The dividend outlook for 2010 is a very strong commitment.''

KPN will also buy back 1 billion euros of stock this year. Last year, the company repurchased 1.5 billion euros of shares.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization at mobile unit E-Plus rose 26 percent to 278 million euros in the fourth quarter, beating the 264 million-euro analyst estimate. Sales at the unit, the third-biggest mobile-phone company in Germany, rose 1.7 percent to 760 million euros.

KPN last week started offering mobile-phone services in Spain using the network of France Telecom SA's Orange unit.

The company would be interested in closing similar deals in other countries, including France, Stan Miller, the head of KPN's international mobile business, said in an analyst meeting broadcast over the Internet. He ruled out buying Bouygues SA's mobile-phone unit.

Dutch Growth

Sales and Ebitda of the Dutch business will start growing again ``organically,'' Scheepbouwer said on a call with journalists today. Ebitda will return to growth after 2008 and sales will reach the ``inflection point'' in 2010 at the latest. Growth will be driven by new services, such as digital television and Web calls, the company has said.

In 2010, KPN forecasts Ebitda of at least 5.5 billion euros compared with 4.9 billion euros in 2007. Sales will rise to more than 15 billion euros from 12.6 billion euros last year.

The company is considering the divestment of some Getronics operations with annual sales of about 800 million euros. Getronics added 23 million euros to fourth-quarter Ebitda.

KPN said today it will complete the sale of Getronics's Australian operations to UXC Limited at the end of this month. In December, KPN sold the Spanish and Portuguese operations. KPN targets Ebitda of 125 million euros on revenue of 1.5 billion euros at Getronics in 2010.

Scheepbouwer, 63, joined the company in 2001 after his predecessor quadrupled debt expanding outside the Netherlands.

After slashing spending and selling assets, Scheepbouwer invested in new services, including calls over the Internet, digital television and computer services for corporate customers. Last year, he agreed to extend his contract until 2011.

``What he's done until now is really good. He saved the company when it was on the verge of collapsing,'' Kiewiet de Jonge said. ``This will be his last show: bringing the company back to growth. His personal commitment is behind this.

news source : http://www.bloomberg.com/

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Let’s take an overview of the handset’s imaging abilities and for this, we are putting it face to face with the Nokia N95. Deliberately or not, everyone will end up comparing these two phones when it will come to imaging departments. It was Nokia who came up with the first mass-market device sporting a 5 Mpix camera onboard. Even though there were others before it, only the Nokia N95 has managed to become a relatively mass-market product. While the Sony Ericsson K850i is looking to garner at least similar interest, in any event, it will be only a runner-up. The company has given up active attempts to struggle for the title of technology pioneer and now strives to hold its own with various technological talents.
Design

Sony Ericsson was the company to introduce the dual-face design in handsets, in other words, on the front fascia it looks like a normal phone, while the rear represents not less normal digital camera. One of the key traits was the shutter covering the lens – sliding it down brought up the camera mode automatically, which was pretty convenient. These solutions eventually got so popular that other makers had nothing to do but replicate them and so today most of top-notch solutions employ the dual-face design to a greater or lesser extent.

It would seem, the Sony Ericsson K850i is bound to utilize the solutions the company already has in this portfolio, but again, Sony Ericsson makes a sudden twist and modifies the design. The shutter, that many have fallen for, is no more – instead, the lens is hidden under the glass, which is somewhat recessed relative to the rear face. And only then, under this glass, sits the shutter, which can be released only by launching the camera mode. Apparently, this has done nothing good to the design, and on the face of it, there is no reasonable explanation to that. But after torturing more than “a couple of” Sony Ericsson managers in different regions, we have managed to figure out what’s the catch here. There is a handful of motives, one of which is an attempt to design the handset to look very reminiscent of the today’s digital cameras, that is, they have armed the K850i with a dedicated camera on/off key as well as a mode switch – these two are housed on the right-hand side. While shooting, this spine will be on top.

A shutter here would have made the mode selection key look out of place or it should have been made passive, which isn’t particularly handy either. The other, by no means a top-priority reason, was trimming some millimeters from the girth. That’s where the things get interesting within the Cyber-Shot range – all top solutions will adopt the controls found in the Sony Ericsson K850i. At the same time, most of the mass-market Cyber-Shot offerings in the upper price bracket will come included with shutters. And all solutions outside the Cyber-Shot line, for example the Sony Ericsson T650i, will have to make do without any kind of shutter. By the way a counterpart of the Sony Ericsson T650i comes with a shutter. All solutions in the bottom price-bracket won’t see shutter either. In terms of differentiation through functionality, there is nothing really bad in this – pay more to gain more. However when it comes to user experience, it is not so clear. Let’s imagine a real-life situation: for example, your humble servant here is bent on photography, therefore he needs a quality camera in his mobile phone, since not every time he feels like taking a few snaps he has a digital camera at hand or can use it at all. After having my quality time with the Sony Ericsson K800i, and even before it, the Sony Ericsson K750i my experience of handling such solutions has shaped up in this way– slide the shutter down, aim and take a picture. And it is a rare occasion when you have to setup the camera, as everything is pretty much automatic – get the phone, snap, put it back. Now I get a new product with enhanced image quality and functionality – the Sony Ericsson K850i, but my previous experience is worth nothing here. I can’t active the camera by feel, and have to look for the button on the device, since it is sunken into the casing. For some occasions it is utterly awkward. On the other hand, for a mass consumer it is another sign of a hi-tech device. By the way, it is solution of a really puzzling task – how to visually differentiate own phones from the competition, and this key solves it. A man, who has taken a phone in his hands, tuned it on and then slowly aimed surely grabs attention and can be distinguished even in a crowd. For me, sometimes, it is outrageous.

And what do you do now? Consumers will be presented with a choice between junior shutter-equipped models, sporting the previous generation flagship functionality. It is neither bad nor good – this is how the today’s market works. While its previous solutions were aiming for the mass market, but with a nod towards techi and specific audiences, this very phone is chiefly intended for the mass market.

Surprisingly, the Nokia N95 user experience-wise comes really close to the previous Sony Ericsson offerings. If I were in the shoes of the company’s developers and marketers, I would think and rethink this sudden twist in ergonomics many times. It is not for sure that after a few minutes of quality time with the handset in a shop, people will get used to the new camera controls and come to realize that it’s convenient and can be mastered in no time. This way, the user experience is broken, which is not always a good thing. Add missing hardware keys, new touch-sensitive buttons and a couple of other alterations, and see that this product negates a lion’s share of the experience, the users have acquired through playing around with the previous handsets by Sony Ericsson. And, conversely, Nokia tries to maintain it. Everything on the market has mixed up so much – the only positive about this is that such twists will occur on a rare occasion and for a few years to come the company’s top of the line products will build upon the concept found in this handset.

Every maker strives to make its products distinctive in use and creates usage patterns. The examples of the Nokia N93 and the Sony Ericsson K850i clearly explain this. So it is a seed for an article with a rundown on how the makers influence consumers and which trends they are forming.

Let’s delve deeper into the handset’s design. The top right of right-hand spine houses the digital zoom button (x16), to the right sits the protruding shutter key and the three-way camera mode switch, its first position stands for still shots, second – video, third – gallery. To the right of the shutter key is the camera on/off button. If you don’t shut it down after shooting, the camera will do it automatically in a few minutes.

The lens inside the glass is covered with a shutter, which is here in order to prevent the matrix from damage if you happen to leave the K850i in the sun. Despite being recessed, the glass is still prone to smudge, just as the entire rear face. Of course, you can give up on wiping it, but the best shots come out when it is clean. Well, this is another serious drawback to the new design – the protective glass attracts grease and dirt with ease.

The upper row of the numeric keys has captions made in blue, which resembles the way the Sony Ericsson K810i has them. They have backlighting of their own, and each of these buttons is used for jumping between modes instantaneously.

This way, “3” switches between normal mode, BestPIC, panorama and frame, “6” adjusts scene, “9” – timer and the last one – flash. With the help of “0” you can bring up a tip, telling you that the navigation key doubles as a zoom key, when pushing it horizontally, and with up/down you can modify brightness. In the previous models the number pad also served for shifting image resolution and switching to macro mode. These options have been forgone not because of some miscalculation or an attempt to follow the fashion. The maker thinks that generally, vast majority of users shoot in one and the same resolution, so giving this option a shortcut makes a little sense. No macro switch is due to the fact that the handset's imaging department is tweaked to the extent when it properly handles both macro and infinite automatically in most cases, thus the consumer won't really need these functions in quick launch.

Around the lens is a light-emitting rim, which flares in blue upon camera startup. This is made only in an effort to let you know where the lens is. To the right sits the xenon flash, equal to that used in the previous models like the K800i power-wise. At the same time, right beneath it is a LED flash, which is here to improve quality of pictures taken during the night-time, when use of a xenon flash is not justified. This is the first occasion when two flash types go hand to hand in one device.

Comments

When Telecom Secretary D S Mathur meets the country's top GSM operators on Wednesday, it will not be the ministry's first attempt at peace, CNBC-TV 18 learns from sources in the ministry at the very top, that minister Andimuthu Raja had extended the olive branch to the GSM industry through its leading operators.

He was willing to cut by half, the criteria advised by the telecom regulator for allocation of additional spectrum. The Telecom regulator's criteria were two to eight times stricter than existing norms. In return, Raja wanted the GSM industry not to challenge in court the TRAI's recommendations on spectrum allocation and dual technology use.

But the GSM industry spurned the offer by saying that the TRAI's recommendations were flawed and a wrong could not be set right by offering a discount. GSM operators then threatened to take DoT to court and followed their words with action.

Ministry officials are miffed that GSM operators had squandered an opportunity. The DoT is willing to settle for the TRAI's criteria, because subsequently, the technical wing of the department has recommended tougher spectrum allocation norms. In return the government would want the GSM operators to withdraw their case at TDSAT.

We learn that Wednesday’s meeting has been called at the behest of the Prime Minister's Office. The PMO is not in favour of a confrontation between sections of the industry and the government. And so is pushing for a settlement.

So while Round 1 of the negotiations could see industry leaders meet only the secretary. Round 2 could see the involvement of the minister and more importantly the principal secretary to the prime minister's office- T K A Nair.

The GSM Industry says the DoT climb down is unacceptable. There are no signs of a patch up. The minister has rejected the law ministry's proposal for a group of ministers. The Prime Minister's office is keeping a close eye. The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister could end up playing the peace broker.

news source : http://www.ibnlive.com/news/

Comments

And so, it was a rewarding time for short filmmakers who shot and edited on Nokia’s flagship multimedia phone range.

One wasn’t expected to make a three-hour blockbuster but a three-minute long diversion.

Solitude Dreams, a film about a man who has hallucinations about someone trying to kill him in his office bagged a flashy cell phone and a six-month training in filmmaking at director Subhash Ghai’s film institute Whistling Woods.

Filmmaker Ranjan Shetty won in the fiction category even as the movie struggled with poor screen resolutions.

“The shooting took me five hours but it took me two days to edit the film,” Shetty said.

While in the non-fiction category Ek Kavita won the award. The movie depicts the hands of people from various strata of society such as cobblers, a rickshaw pullers, a mother cooking food and a student doing homework.

Ek Kavita’s maker also had a possible solution to the tiny screen dilemma of keeping the frames still by cutting down on motion.

“If there isn’t much movement then the movie won’t pixilate,” winner of the non-fiction category, Sachin Shrestha explained.

With participants ranging from student filmmakers to telecom engineers, the event proved that almost anyone can put together a mobile film. So, are the big boys of the box office threatened?

“Big screen movies will still be watched in theatres. When television was invented, we thought it would be the death of theatres, but it is not so. So, this is just a new medium of filmmaking,” director Subhash Ghai said.

So, maybe the mobile flick will just be another outlet for cinematic expression and not the future of movies. But one thing is for sure though – at these screenings no one is going to ask you to put your pesky phone off.

news source : http://www.ibnlive.com/news/

Comments

As the Nokia N81 8GB mobile phone has been designed to offer the best in music, video and gaming, it comes with a large screen, wireless LAN, a camera and dedicated music/game keys with a customizable user interface.

More importantly, the N81 phone comes with 8GB of flash memory, allowing users to store more content. In fact, the Nokia N81 8GB handset comes preloaded with a full length movie – the hit Bollywood movie ‘Sholay’. Also preloaded on the phone are the Top 10 English music video, 10 best-selling Bollywood and Hollywood songs and 10 hit comedy scenes from Bollywood movies.

With a sleek, polished surface and keys that light up when activated, accessing content on the 3D multimedia menu is fast and intuitive.

The Nokia N81 8GB mobile phone sports dedicated music and gaming keys as well as a 3.5mm headphone connector and 3G and WLAN connectivity.

Users of the Nokia N81 8GB handset will be able to find, buy, manage and play music and games purchased from the Nokia Music store and N-gage games service.
Mobile game fans will like this phone as a preview of the N-Gage games service is also available in the Nokia N81 device. Also included are playable demos of EA SPORTS FIFA 07, Asphalt 3: Street Rules and Space Impact Light.

news source : http://www.techshout.com/

Comments

Sugababes chart topper should also tell you a thing or two about the market Nokia is aiming at.The Prism's diagonal keypad layout and design has been inspired by the infinite geometrical forms found in architectural surfaces. Apparently. We suspect the designer just likes Toblerone a lot. That aside, it does look rather fetching and, more to the point, it works. OK, it's no better than a keyboard designed with a slavish and exclusive devotion to ergonomics, but nor is it any the worse.One slight quibble is that neither the start- and end-call buttons, or the two soft-menu keys, are exactly were logic or custom would dictate them to be. Clearly, logic and custom didn't see eye to eye with geometric layout and got a slap.The 7500's other look-at-me feature is its 2in, 240 x 320, 16m-colour TFT display with an "organic desktop" and "event-driven themes", which is Nokia-speak for saying the screen glows in a cool and trippy manner.Actually this was all pretty disappointing. Sure, you get a decent selection of themes, but frankly neither they, nor the handset's various lighting functions, are anything much out of the ordinary.

news source : http://www.reghardware.co.uk/

For more information about mobile phones visit http://www.mobilephoneshopuk.net

Comments

Nokia has launched their latest n-series mobile device in the market. The latest model is the Nokia N82 and they call it the latest multimedia computer optimized for photography, navigation and Internet connectivity.

Nokia N82 comes loaded with A-GPS, a 5-megapixel camera, Xenon flash, Carl Zeiss optics and Internet connectivity.

In addition the company added that it features all the multimedia computer features present in all the other N-Series mobile device.

The phone would retail with a 2GB microSD card.

Nokia added that the phone is capable of showing multimedia slideshows. These can be watched on the display or a compatible television set.
For more information about mobile phones visit http://www.mobilephoneshopuk.net

source from : http://news.techwhack.com/6828/nokia-n82/

Comments

All the big names in the mobile phone industry like Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Motorola are doing exceptional jobs by bringing several mobile phones in different styles, sizes and colours. Targeted at different age groups, these phones come loaded with all the latest features - be it imaging, connectivity, music, web activities, gaming and so on.

With the advent of the Internet it has become easier to get one's preferred handset of any make right from the comfort of his/her home. There are several online mobile phone shops which work on a 24 x 7 basis in the mobile spectrum. Delineating with all sorts of mobile handsets, these online mobile phone shops also offer cost effective mobile phone deals to the consumers. Consumers can now choose their preferred deal from a wide arena of choice featuring contract mobile phones, 12 months free line rental, pay as you mobile phones etc. All these mobile phone deals come with a variety of advantages for the consumers although their working subscription modules differ a bit. All of these mobile phones bring along them several mobile phone offers like lowered calling rate, free texts, free minutes, free insurance, amazing cashback and much. One can also avail spectacular free gifts like free iPods, free gaming consoles from Sony and Nintendo, free mobile accessories and such other stuffs with these deals. That is why it will be wise on your part to subscribe to any of these deals and get rewarded with free gifts and offers.

source from : http://www.pr-usa.net/

Comments

Merseyside is the first force in the country to use a device which transmits Bluetooth messages to all Bluetooth-enabled phones within a 100m radius at a rate of 21 messages every four seconds.

The new mobile phone technology has already been used by detectives in the Croxteth Park area, where Rhys lived, to help trace potentially vital wit- nesses. It works by means of a trans- mitter based in a police car.
For more information about mobile phones visit http://www.mobilephoneshopuk.net

Eleven-year-old Rhys, who was fatally shot in the car park of the Fir Tree pub on August 22, was a passionate Everton supporter.

source from : http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/

Comments

Warner Music Group has firmly decided not to participate in Nokia's new music store for its cell phone users over copyright concerns. Nokia Music Store still has Universal, Sony BMG and EMI as participating labels.

Nokia is offering the new music service to mobile phone users that enable customers to download directly instead of using a PC.

Concerns over another Nokia service, MOSH, Warner doesn't want users to upload sahred songs and videos as it infringes on copyright.

Nokia argues that it has

implemented Audible Magic copyright filtering on MOSH, and that it will promptly respond to requests to remove copyrighted material. The cell phone company is still in talks with Warner to convince the firm that it is protected against copyright infringement.

The cell phone company has dealt with a few setbacks this week with the postponement in launching its N-Gage gaming service. The N-Gage gaming platform and Nokia Music Store were to be the first two creative products launched. The music store went live earlier this week, but the N-Gage service has been pushed back.

N-Gage is only delayed for a few weeks, not months, according to Nokia. But still, the new mobile phone service for gaming and downloading music is off to a shaky start.

News Source : http://www.halflifesource.com/news/

Comments

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is holding a press conference on Friday to set the date for applications to take over ownership of the country's GSM network, with a January 2008 deadline for applications.

The GSM network, with about 1.1 million mobile phone lines in operation, is owned by the state and currently operated by Kuwait's MTC Touch and Lebanon's Alfa whose contracts expire in mid-2008.

Under the privatisation plan, three operators will own and run the network by the first half of next year, TRA president Kamal Shehadi told AFP.

The mobile network has been one of the government's main sources of revenue in the last few years, generating about 900 million dollars a year.

"Our local and international tariffs are among the highest in the world, if not the highest," Shehadi said.

"Lebanese people pay an average of 65 dollars per month, against 40 dollars for a Saudi... and a European citizen pays even less than 40 dollars," he said.

"As for pre-paid cards, which make up 75 percent of subscribers, the minute is about 44 cents, which is enormous."

Regular subscribers in Lebanon, which has a populatin of four million, also face high bills.

"Before even speaking, they pay about 41 dollars for the subscription, VAT and options," Zuheir Berro, president of the Lebanon Consumers' Association, told AFP.

"In addition, they have to pay the communication (14 cents per minute) and a state tax (six cents per minute)," he said.

The decision to sell the mobile network is part of plans to introduce reforms agreed by the government in order to obtain much-needed financial assistance pledged by donors at a Paris conference in January.

Lebanon secured pledges of 7.6 billion dollars in grants and loans to help alleviate the country's economic woes, particularly after last year's devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The government expects to benefit from the privatisation process at least in the medium term.

"With privatisation, we expect in the medium term a rise of at least one to 1.5 percent in economic growth every year, a decrease in the service of the debt and a rise in the volume of the value-added-tax," Shehadi said.

Lebanon's public debt has spiralled to 40.5 billion dollars since the end of the country's 1975-1990 civil war.

Shehadi said the government was eager to benefit from the potential growth of the privatised mobile phone industry, saying the move would help raise the penetration rate of mobile phone lines in Lebanon from 30 percent currently to at least 80 percent.

And Lebanon also plans to sell part of its landline network which now has just 550,000 subscribers.

"At the end of 2008, the state will sell 40 percent of its shares to a (private) operator as a first step for Liban Telecom," a private firm which will be eventually created to run the sector, Shehadi said.

news source : http://afp.google.com/

Comments

Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit will offer three packages, for 49 euros, 69 euros and 89 euros a month, the Bonn-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. In the U.K., Telefonica SA's O2 unit will sell 18-month contracts starting at 35 pounds (50 euros) a month.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is tapping Germany, Europe's biggest wireless market, to help meet a forecast of selling 10 million iPhones worldwide in 2008. T-Mobile, the largest mobile-phone company in Germany, had 34 million customers at the end of June. It's counting on the partnership with Cupertino, California-based Apple to bolster customer spending in its home market.

T-Mobile said on Sept. 19 it will begin selling the 8- gigabyte combination phone and iPod digital music player in Germany on Nov. 9 for 399 euros including tax. Customers must take out contracts for at least 24 months, T-Mobile spokesman Alexander von Schmettow said in a phone interview today.

Customers can use the iPhone to surf the Web using T- Mobile's network of 8,000 WiFi access points, T-Mobile said. Data download speeds will reach as much as 11 megabits a second.

T-Mobile's lowest-priced contract includes 100 minutes of calling time 40 text messages. That compares with 200 minutes of calls and 200 messages under O2's cheapest package.

T-Mobile offers Web access to iPhone customers using the so-called Edge technology, which allows download speeds of as much as 220 kilobits a second. T-Mobile will limit that speed to 200 megabits of data for subscribers of the 49-euro package. The speed for additional downloads will drop to 64 kilobits a second afterwards, spokesman Von Schmettow said. The data limits for the more expensive packages are one gigabit and five gigabits, respectively.

source : http://www.bloomberg.com

Comments

The No. 4 U.S. carrier, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), has lagged behind its larger rivals in both subscriber base and network speeds. Its strength lies in the younger demographic, many of whom cling loyally to the Sidekick. With the Shadow, it hopes to attract an older audience.

"It fills the gap with features traditionally known for a smartphone, but in a form factor of a feature phone," said David Sholkovitz, senior marketing manager for T-Mobile USA.

The phone will retail for $149.99 with a two-year contract and a voice plan and a $19.99 unlimited data plan, or $199 with a contract for just a voice plan. It will be available on Wednesday.

It marks the first time Taiwan-based High Tech Computer Corp. (2498.TW), which normally makes unbranded devices for carriers, has veered away from the smartphone category. The device features a slide-out keypad with 20 buttons and predictive text, a large screen, and a spin wheel for navigation.

The Shadow is attempting to win over the same demographic that Research in Motion Ltd.'s (RIMM) Blackberry Pearl has successfully captured. The Sidekick skews younger to the urban and image-conscious crowd ranging from 16 to the early 20s, Sholkovitz said. The Shadow is intended for customers in their late 20s to late 30s.

Sholkovitz said the device is geared for customers who want to text or send emails from their phone, but don't want to invest in a full smartphone like a Palm Inc. (PALM) Treo.

The Shadow is among the latest wave of phones, from the AT&T Inc. (T) Tilt, to the Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) Touch, that encourage users to go online and send text messages or surf the Web. All three phones are made by HTC.

As part of the data plan, users can hop on a Wi-Fi network with the Shadow for quick access to the Web. Despite the Wi-Fi capability, however, the phone isn't compatible with T-Mobile USA's HotSpot @Home service. Farah Houston, the product manager for the device, said there wasn't enough time in the development process to add the feature.

news source : http://money.cnn.com/news/

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Virgin Mobile USA on Friday unveiled "Wild Card" by Kyocera Wireless, which is the carrier's first cell phone with streaming music capability.

While carriers in the United States offer the option to get pre-paid services on phones, Virgin Mobile's business model (Mobile Network Virtual Operator or MNVO) is entirely based on providing plans without annual contracts ranging from pre-paid to pay-as-you-go services.

The carrier's new Wild Card phone, weighing around 4 ounces, is intended for multimedia and Web browsing. At first glance Wild Card's front face looks like a typical cell phone with a dial pad and other options for voice calls. It can also be tuned sideways and flipped open revealing a wide screen with speakers and a full qwerty keyboard.

"This is another Virgin Mobile phone that appeals to so many of our customers' interests -- especially those who love to text and listen to music," said Howard Handler, the company's CFO, in a statement.

Wild Card is the refined version of Virgin Mobile's Switch Back, an e-mail and text messaging phone that was introduced last year.

Wild Card streams music through an application called Headliner, which works like a jukebox and lets customers listen to individual tracks for 25 cents each. Additionally, the subscription service serves up concert tour updates, music news, artist information, and music charts. Headliner costs $2.49 a month.

The music service is paired with a messaging offer, which includes unlimited text, IM, e-mail, and picture messaging for $20 a month.

Wild Card comes with an optional service called "Contact Vault" for customers that want to store, retrieve, and transfer their personal contacts list if their phone is lost or if they upgrade to a new phone. Contact Vault costs $2 a month or $10 for six months.

The phone costs $100 and is available at Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Radio Shack, Target, and Wal-Mart. It will be available for purchase on Virgin Mobile's Web site starting next week.
For more information about mobile phones visit http://www.mobilephoneshopuk.net

news source : http://www.informationweek.com/

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Television ads are scheduled to debut Wednesday on Comedy Central, MTV, and VH1. Both emphasize cell phone plans without annual subscriptions. "The message is, we've got this hot new phone, Wild Card, for texting and entertainment," says Howard Handler, CMO at Virgin Mobile USA. "This is our showcase effort for the holiday."

Print ads begin running in numerous publications next month. Banners and buttons on Virgin Mobile's web site will show off the Wild Card, Handler says.

The Wild Card phone, weighing in at four ounces, doubles as a music player. It includes access to Virgin's online music store and media service, and for 25 cents per song consumers can hear any tune available. Games are available, too, such as Block Breaker Deluxe, Pac-Man and Tetris.

The phone has two color screens, one on the front and one inside over a full keyboard for messaging. The sideways clam-shell design makes it easy for gamers to play. Features also include Bluetooth, 1.3-megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom, and speakerphone. Wild Card costs $100.

The $20-per-month service fee gives customers unlimited text, e-mail and picture messaging. The special promotion lets consumers buy a Wild Card and messaging pack, and get the second month free with activation.

Aside from the messaging pack to keep both phone and carrier top of mind with consumers, Virgin Mobile offers add-on services "Contact Vault" and "Headliner."

Contact Vault allows Wild Card holders to store, retrieve, delete and transfer personal contacts to safeguard the list in the event their phone gets lost, stolen, damaged or upgraded. Customers input up to six phone numbers per contact in the address book and store up to 140 contacts total. The Contact Vault costs $2 per month, or $10 for a six-month subscription.

Headliner, Virgin Mobile's mobile music magazine subscription service on the phone for $2.49 monthly, offers concert tour updates, music news, artist information like biographies and discographies, music charts and celebrity tidbits.

Music and entertainment have played major roles for the Virgin Group of companies since the launch of Virgin Records in the 1970s. Some rock stars in the 40 bands that played at the Virgin Festival in August at Pimlico horserace course in Baltimore got an early look at the phones.

Wild Card by Kyocera Wireless will begin selling on virginmobileusa.com on Wednesday. Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target and Wal-Mart began selling the phone earlier this month.
For more information about mobile phones visit http://www.mobilephoneshopuk.net

news source : http://publications.mediapost.com

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The new credo in Southeast Asia may well be: "You are what you have attached to your belt or what is sticking out of your handbag" (there is definitely gender equality in the obsession with communicators and smart phones). The Nokia E90 is what you want to be seen with these days, although you can also show off with some the latest multimedia features of the N93. The Sony Ericsson M600i is a bit too old; their W950i model is much more prestigious. And if the style and elegance is more important than the megapixels in the camera, you should probably aim at the LG Prada.

In Southeast Asia it really doesn't matter too much what exactly you have to say, as long as you say it very loudly, in a place that is considered chic (mainly American-style chain restaurants or cafés you wouldn't want to be seen in, in New York or in London), preferably into the microphone of your latest expensive gadget.

In Japanese trains, you have to leave your seat and go between the cars to talk on your mobile phone. In Europe it is considered openly offensive to send text messages or to speak on the phone while you are meeting your friends for lunch or for a drink. But in Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur, the opposite is the case. Ringtones set on high volume, screaming into the microphones, business people are announcing to the whole world how "V.I.P." they really are. They are, after all, the very same men and women who delight in driving their BMWs through the miserable shantytowns, observing children beggars, many suffering from malnutrition. It is all about being "different," "cutting edge;" and about humiliating others — the less fortunate (or more decent) ones.

My Sony Ericsson 750i broke down in Samoa, probably from the excessive heat and humidity. I had developed certain feelings toward the phone. It was simple and bulky and friendly. I managed to program an old Cuban song as my ringtone, and then advanced even further, downloading as a screen background a photo of a round stone dragon from a provincial Japanese temple located in an area where I like taking long walks to think. That's all I needed — I could call and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and find necessary phone numbers. Its sudden collapse left me in limbo.

Jakarta's Sony Ericsson service center couldn't find necessary spare part to fix it, and as a temporary substitute I had to pull my old 610 out of a closet. This made me look, of course, quite impossible. Waitresses ceased to smile at me; my acquaintances averted their eyes in embarrassment from the lovely but obsolete bulky "thing," whenever it decided to ring. Books that I published, films that I made — it was all truly irrelevant. What mattered in Southeast Asia was that my mobile phone sucked, and consequently I sucked with it.

My humiliation was so complete that I eventually stopped combing my hair and trimming my beard. It was pointless; with my 610 I had no right to even aim at looking presentable. Then, one day, I saw an advertisement on the back of The Economist — the Nokia E90; the talk of town, the latest "must have!" It was elegant, manly and very expensive looking. It was, in fact, a small computer and a mobile phone and a movie player and who knows what else! I am sure it would massage my back if I asked for it, and kiss me good night for good measure.

I abandoned the manuscript of my atheist play, as well as my anti-globalization novel. I began the search. No "unlocked" version of iPhone was coming to Southeast Asia anytime soon and iPod Touch is a communicator, but not a phone. Blackberries had no impressive entertainment features; and the Palm Treo kept crashing. Smart phones from Sony Ericsson have peculiar keyboards, sharing two letters on each key. Instead of researching my upcoming trip to the Marshall Islands, I was browsing Amazon.com, reading reviews and frantic criticism from smart phone users. Yet I was in Asia, and wasn't even expected to go to a decent toilet without a smart phone.

Developers were burning big parts of Greece, proving that turbo-capitalism is willing to destroy everything, even one of the most beautiful countries on Earth in order to satisfy its limitless greed. Yet, I was still searching for the smart phone that would "fit my needs." The West was moving closer to a war with Iran, while I was weighing my options — do I need bigger screen more than a bigger keyboard? Am I going to watch videos or listen to the music? And what operating system is really suitable for me?

Jakarta was, in the meantime, falling apart. The city center was gone, replaced by outrageously ugly, suburban-looking shopping malls that were not even interconnected by zebras or overpasses for crossing the streets. The pollution was unbearable, corruption reaching epic dimensions, the Indonesian press going back to the dogs — to the dark ages when one didn't even need censorship, as there was plenty of "self-discipline" on the part of local and "imported" editors. Poverty, misery and ugliness had already swallowed the entire city, yet the press was still trumpeting to the world, as it did for decades, that Jakarta is a beautiful, sprawling metropolis.

But the smart phones were never quiet. They kept ringing and ringing and Mafia-style Indonesian elites kept screaming ludicrous orders into them that were helping to bring true hell on Earth to this unfortunate country. Cafés and restaurants, those clean ones built for the elites and expatriates, were offering free copies of dozens of flashy advertisement magazines displaying the latest Nokia and Sony Ericsson models.

Indonesia is brutally divided. On one hand there are the one percent of those with the smart phones who wrap themselves in luxury brand clothes from LV and Prada, play golf on the courses built after criminal public land-grabs, and drive the latest European cars. They are the corrupt Indonesian officials, military top brass, businessmen (mostly unscrupulous gangsters with better PR), and religious leaders building hundreds of new mosques in the city that is lacking space, public parks and children's playgrounds. On the other hand, there is misery, malnutrition, filthy water, a collapsed educational system and medical care. More than half of the country lives on less than $2 a day, pro-market and religious propaganda.

But even in that "other" Indonesia of misery, fear and hunger, there are increasing numbers of mobile phones. People are not encouraged to think, to criticize, or to analyze their situation. But they are pushed to "communicate," to bark and to whisper pointless, meaningless phrases: "How are you?" "I am good. And you? Good. And children? Very good, happy!"

One month after my 750i broke, I am still with my 610. But I am getting used to it. The phone rings, sends and receives text messages almost as well as my more advanced model used to. I am still undecided about what new phone to buy, and when — or whether I should at all.

In the meantime, I am slowly returning to my writing. Periodically, I have memory flashes of all those brilliant photos depicting the Nokia E90. I feel like a recovering alcoholic or a person who recently quit smoking. I still want it; want it very much, but I am resisting. If I were to buy the E90, it would probably take one entire year of my life to learn how to operate it.

Instead I am, once again, beginning to think and to write about Greece, and Iran and Jakarta.

news source : http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/2951.cfm

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The handset unit turned in 6.1bn euro, while 2.5bn euro came from Multimedia and 3.67bn euro came from the networks joint venture. The mighty Finn shifted 111.7 million handsets during the quarter, up 26 per cent year on year, against estimated industry device volumes of 286 million units, up 17 per cent year on year.

Nokia now estimates its device market share to be 39 per cent.

Chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said: "Nokia strengthened its leading position in the device industry in the third quarter. In a strong market, we simultaneously gained market share and increased our operating margins. The quality and depth of our device portfolio continues to give us a good competitive edge and we believe our portfolio looks promising for next year."

Commenting on the increasing number of low end handsets the manufacturer is now shipping, Kallasvuo warned of a decrease in average selling prices due to the impact of the emerging markets.

On Nokia Siemens Networks, which recorded a third quarter operating loss of 120m euro, the company has updated its previous estimate of 1.5bn euro in charges associated with cost synergies to now be slightly above 2bn euro. The majority of the remaining charges associated with cost synergies will be recorded in the fourth quarter, the company said.

The cost synergy target for Nokia Siemens Networks continues to be approximately 1.5bn euro per year, to be achieved by the end of 2008, Nokia said. The company has also identified a further 500m euro of annual cost synergies, which will be realised by the end of 2008.

news source : http://allafrica.com/stories/200710220471.html

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Shares of the company, based in Stockholm, tumbled 24 percent.

Ericsson, which has 45 percent of the $35 billion market for mobile network equipment and software, said the downturn had been driven by weaker-than-expected demand in the United States and Europe. In those two markets, some operators are pooling networks and some new competitors are renting network access instead of building their own systems.

Carl-Henric Svanberg, the president and chief executive of Ericsson, said during an interview that the profit warning was caused in part by invoicing delays in China and was not a sign of a broader industry slowdown. Mr. Svanberg spoke a month after the company had told investors that Ericsson was poised to expand its market share over its top competitors, Alcatel-Lucent and the Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture.

Mr. Svanberg said he learned about the quarterly drop in earnings on Monday and that the company decided to disclose the news one day later, more than a week before its planned earnings conference on Oct. 25. Mr. Svanberg said that Ericsson would work to improve its internal financial forecasting procedures to avoid further surprises.

“There is no change in the long-term outlook or in the market going forward or in how we see data traffic developing on wireless networks,” Mr. Svanberg said. “But we do need to draw conclusions about how we can better understand the variations that can occur in our industry, and we will improve our early-warning systems.”

Despite Mr. Svanberg’s attempts to reassure investors, Ericsson’s warning pulled down the company’s shares, as well as those of Alcatel-Lucent, as some investors read into the announcement the confirmation of a slowdown in demand for new third-generation wireless networks, which are being built for high-speed delivery of mobile data. Ericsson’s shares dropped 6.28 kronor, or 23.8 percent, to 20.10 kronor ($3.11) in trading in Stockholm.

Mr. Svanberg said the downturn came as some customers held back on decisions to upgrade GSM networks to 3G networks. Upgrades, Mr. Svanberg said, tend to generate more profit for Ericsson than the construction of new networks, which accounted for half of network sales in the quarter, up from a third.

“Because of this shift, we have lost some of the higher-margin upgrades,” he said.

Net income fell 36 percent, to 4 billion kronor ($620 million), compared with 6.2 billion kronor in the period a year earlier, according to the company’s preliminary estimates. Ericsson’s operating profit is expected to fall to 5.6 billion kronor ($876 million) from 8.8 billion kronor in the period a year earlier.

The operating profit margin most likely fell to 8 percent from 9 percent a year earlier and from 19 percent in the second quarter, the company said. Revenue was estimated to rise 6 percent, to 43.5 billion kronor.

After a decade in which some wireless operators invested billions of dollars to obtain licenses and build third-generation networks, the industry is adapting to a more modest reality as the demand growth for mobile data — the justification for the faster, more costly networks — continues to lag behind initial market predictions. Faced with subdued growth, some operators are looking for ways to cut costs.

“What Ericsson is experiencing is affecting the whole industry, not just Ericsson,” said Roland Pitz, an analyst at HVB Bank in Munich. “What we are seeing in Europe especially is that operators are either sharing their networks or renting them out to virtual service providers. The net effect is that the pace of investment in network construction is slowing slightly from what it had been.”

Source : http://www.nytimes.com

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